Then yesterday, I made a chai spice blend with some freshly ground allspice and cardamom (in my suribachi), nutmeg, cloves, and cinnamon. Mmmm... it tasted wonderful!

There was no powdery residue in my coffee, since my coffee-making method uses a paper filter. Using ground cinnamon and other spices might not work so well in a French Press. Try cinnamon bark chips or coarsely-ground spices instead? :)

Anyway, I'm just a little excited that I can take a bag of "plain" coffee and vary the flavors according to my mood... so easily! :) And, my "homemade" flavors tasted so good -- much better than a lot of the flavored coffees I've tried. :)

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Happy new year! :) We enjoyed having Joshua home from work today and having one last day off from our school work. Plus, I got to go out for coffee and new-baby shopping with a friend! I am not ready for a "normal" week to resume early tomorrow morning! ;)

It's cold and windy outside, and I'm putting chili on our menu plan this week. I'll probably make White Chili since I'm out of beef. I love how chili is easy, filling, and affordable! It freezes well, too.

If you're cooking for more than just 1 or 2 people, using dried beans can be well worth the little hands-on time it takes. I think dried beans taste better than canned, and cooking them in my crock pot is nearly effortless! Beans (or lentils!) are an affordable way to stretch chili, and leftover cooked beans can be frozen for later use.

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I've enjoyed having a relaxing 4-day weekend with Joshua at home. We both love to cook, so with his extra time off we made gingerbread men with the kids, grilled some salmon, and I went through some cooking magazines from a friend.

Having no electricity on Sunday afternoon threw a wrinkle into my plan for chicken gravy and biscuits, so we had a snack lunch of cheese and crackers instead. Eliyahu made us laugh by his many comments along the lines of "This is the best lunch ever!! I mean, it's too bad we have no electricity, but I really love this cheese and crackers!!!" ;)

And now tomorrow feels like it should be Monday, but it's Tuesday! I didn't make a menu plan for this week yet, but I'll make a partial one and give a shopping update. (Hint: We got eggs and bananas and are going to hold off until after the holidays to go to Costco.)

When making a cookie recipe that requires the balls of dough to be rolled in sugar, put some sugar in a container with a tight-fitting lid and place dough balls in a single layer in the container. Put the lid on and gently shake to coat the balls with sugar! :)

To quickly mark the tops of peanut butter cookies, use a potato masher to mark a grid on each cookie. Dip the masher in flour first so it doesn't stick. My friend Tanya says she dips her fork in flour before marking peanut butter cookies, too. :)

To save time waiting for cut-out cookie dough to chill, roll your just-made dough between two layers of waxed paper or parchment paper, to desired thickness. Chill the layers (fridge or freezer) and then cut cookies from each layer.

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I have two Rubbermaid butter dishes (so handy, with a lid that snaps tightly!) and I keep them both filled and not refrigerated, so that we never run out of soft butter to spread on bread, etc.

Ever open the butter dish to realize that it's almost empty, and the rest of the butter is in the fridge? This happened to me way too many times growing up, so I have always kept two butter dishes out in our home!

Having extra butter at room temperature is also handy for those last-minute cooking-baking frenzies. Without a microwave to soften butter, I've frequently raided one or both butter dishes for some soft butter for whatever baking project I hadn't planned ahead!

And finally, when I'm cutting a stick of butter for a recipe and there's, say, 3 tablespoons left over, rather than wrapping the little piece and putting it back in the fridge, I check to see if it can fit on a partly-empty butter dish. If so, I add it to the butter dish, and avoid all the random pieces in the fridge. :)

By the way, these cookies are so delicious! My mom has made molasses spice cookies with raisins for as long as I can remember, and they're one of my dad's favorites. Now, I make them especially for Joshua -- although we all really like them! :)

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I also like washing some unconventional things in the dishwasher. Here are a few I've done:

1. Toothbrushes! This is especially helpful when the toddler has gotten into the other kids' toothbrushes and done something unsanitary with them (before we started keeping them on the kitchen windowsill for easier access and less mess). My dishwasher detergent has chlorine in it, so it's definitely killing some germs! (Home dishwashers don't get hot enough to sterilize by heat.)

2. Plastic hair brushes and combs. I don't need to wash mine very often, but putting them in the dishwasher is an almost effortless way to clean them! :)

3. Plastic kitchen scrub brushes or vegetable brushes. I use my plastic scrub brush all the time, since I hand-wash my wooden utensils and my cookware. Running it through the dishwasher (usually weekly, for me) gets it nice and clean.

4. Soap dishes, toothbrush holders, and any other small "containers" that end up needing a good Spring cleaning once a year or so.

5. Kids plastic toys (or the plastic containers for them). We also wash toys in the bath tub. That's even more fun for the kids! :)

6. Plastic clothes hangers. If they're really dusty from being in the back of the closet, or dirty from hanging outside on the clothesline, I do a big load of them in my dishwasher. They come out shiny clean!

7. Stove burner pans. Mine don't come 100% clean in the dishwasher, but they do pretty well when I catch spills and wash the pan the same day if possible! :)

8. Glass tray from the microwave. Although normally, I don't let it get bad enough to need more than a quick wipe with the dish rag...

I can't decide on a kitchen tip today. Nothing in my photo folder seems ingenious enough to have a whole post dedicated to it. So, here are some random kitchen tips for this week! :)

If you can do basic sewing, homemade potholders are easy to make. My mom came up with the idea of using a few layers of fabric from an old sweatshirt for the filling/padding in the potholders. We've been making them that way now for many years. If you have inexpensive (or hand-me-down) fabric for the outside, "upcycle" an old sweatshirt and you've got the materials needed for potholders! :)

I love that the kitchen sink in this rental has a sprayer! Some of my favorite uses for it:

1. Spraying hot water into the sink to make extra-bubbly dish water without using extra dish soap

When baking multiple things in the oven at the same time, stagger the sheets or pans and rotate half way through baking (switch the bottom one to the top and vice versa). Always leave at least an inch of space between the oven walls and the pans (and other pans!) so the air can circulate, and your food will cook more evenly.

And lastly (off-topic), can you find Ruth (3) in this picture? She disappeared one day and I had to check every room a couple times before I finally found her in here! :)

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My friend Lindsey sent me these homemade cookie jar mixes after the birth of Moshe almost 2 (!) years ago. What a beautiful and yummy treat! :) These were some of the oldest photos in my folder of things to blog about. "Better late than never!" is my mantra. ;)

I love bean soups and hopefully some day will find the time to experiment with making some pretty soup-in-a-jar mixes! Not only are jar mixes fun to make, they're a practical gift and fun to use! I mean, dinner is always more fun when it starts out looking beautiful and involves something already mixed for me. ;)

When making mixes in jars, sometimes the mix doesn't quite reach the top. You'll want to keep those pretty layers in the jar, but many recipes need to use exact measurements and you can't just throw in something extra to fill the jar. ;)

Lindsey gave me this tip for keeping mixes in place and pretty:

Place a layer of plastic wrap over the top of the ingredients in the jar, and then use cotton balls to fill in the space between the ingredients and the lid of the jar. Your ingredients will stay in place and you'll have that perfect-looking gift to give! :)

Here are the two recipes Lindsey used to make cookie mixes for us. Both recipes are from the book "Gifts in a Jar".

Tip: You can find quite a few cookie recipes that would adapt to being made into a jar mix. Just look for recipes with only a couple "wet" ingredients like eggs, butter, or vanilla. That means you'll be able to pre-mix most of the recipe! :) Muffins, cakes, waffles, and corn bread are all good mix-in-a-jar candidates. ;)

Preheat the oven to 375*. In a large bowl, cream the butter, eggs and vanilla. Add the Chocolate Chip Cookie mix and stir until the mixture is well blended. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet. Bake for 8 - 10 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool.

Preheat the oven to 350*. In a large bowl, cream the butter, eggs and vanilla. Add the Trail Cookie Mix and stir until the mixture is well blended. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool.

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Even though I'm picky about which foods I like from a slow cooker, I really do love the crock pot I have and use it at least once a week (for beans).

I wash the crock pot with hot soapy water and a plastic brush. When I'm finished scrubbing and washing, it looks like this. All shiny and clean, right?

Wrong. When it dries, it looks cloudy and doesn't feel smooth on the cloudy parts. (I find this especially after cooking beef stew or beans.)

I've tried re-washing with the hottest water possible, and scrubbing lots with my plastic brush. It still looks cloudy when it dries.

Not only that, but the cloudy parts have a smell, like herbs (from my roast beef) and beans. The smell is all right if I'm only going to cook beef or beans in it. I've told myself that it's basically clean despite looking cloudy!

But last week I wanted to cook apples in my crock pot, and I didn't want the apples to smell like beef or beans. My solution for getting the smell off of my crock pot?

With a wet washcloth, gently rub the spots with baking soda (I used about 1/4 cup). It washed away the smell and the "clouds"!

Because I never get around to doing a separate post about this stuff, here is some off-topic cuteness from my kitchen helpers:

I asked Eliyahu (5) to fill the pepper grinder for me. Moshe (1) "helped" him and they were so cute together as they intently worked on the special task! And yes, Eliyahu does have more than 1 shirt; that one happens to be his favorite right now and he tries to wear it as often as possible! :)

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I didn't know it was possible to ruin mashed potatoes. I watched my mom make from-scratch mashed potatoes for years, and have made them myself many times, with great success. But, tonight my mashed potatoes turned out wrong. They were smooth and creamy, but gummy -- almost the consistency of play dough. Very strange! I'm pretty sure I know what I did wrong, though. I used the hand mixer and mashed the hot potatoes with some butter added... and then poured in a little cold milk. Voila! Gummy potato play dough!

The good news? My roast beef turned out perfect, I felt *so accomplished* that dinner was started (in the crock pot) at 6 AM (yes, we're very early risers! :P), and it made the house smell good all day. The scary part is that I had over 4 pounds of chuck roast in the crock pot (for just our family!) and our leftovers were less than 1 cup of meat! I guess we'll be having beef vegetable soup heavy-on-the-vegetables next week. ;)

Potatoes can do funny things when put in the blender, too. I never knew this until a couple weeks ago when I was making blended potato soup for dinner after Joshua's wisdom tooth extractions. Ahh, the science of food! Apparently I had/have a lot to learn about potato starch! ;) Note: Don't try to mash potatoes using a blender or food processor, as it will make them gummy due to the blade breaking down the starch... ;)

I'm still using fresh parsley from my pot outside! I've loved having a few fresh herbs on-demand. Many thanks to my friend Kathryn who gave me starts this year! :)

How my mom makes her amazing mashed potatoes:

Peel potatoes and cut into halves or fourths. Put them in a BIG pot (bigger than you think you need!), cover with water, and add some salt (like when cooking pasta or beans!).

Tip: To keep potatoes from boiling over when cooking, put a streak of butter around the pot on the inside, at the top. I've found this works, unless I've really over-filled my pot.

With the lid on, bring potatoes to a boil and then simmer until tender. Drain water from pan.

Tip: You can save a dish by using the pan's lid, slightly ajar, to drain the water. But, USE POTHOLDERS and be careful doing this! :) My mom's great at it, but I usually just grab a colander to drain the potatoes and then return them to the pan.

Return pan and potatoes to the stove. Add butter and milk and heat on low until milk is hot. Remove from heat, mash as desired, and add salt and pepper to taste.

Eliyahu (5), so excited that he got to measure, rinse, and start some beans in the crock pot for me (with only a little help). :)Joshua's taking beans (with sour cream, cheese, and hot sauce) in his lunches this week.

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I'm only slightly amused that I planned to write a post with tips for using the garbage disposal right before I completely clogged ours! So much for all my fabulous garbage disposal success stories, right? :) Well, I hopefully my tips will still be helpful despite my sink being clogged last week. ;)

I love having a garbage disposal. It makes it so easy to scrape plates after meals (we do clean our plates, but there are often things like fruit peelings or seeds). I also like using the disposal-side of the sink for food prep. I can let peelings or egg shells drop into the sink as I work.

I took a picture of all my leftovers! Beans, rice, pasta -- all waiting to be turned into other meals (especially freezer burritos)! :)

Our current garbage disposal works really well, and over the past year of living here, I've gradually tried putting more and more things down it. In fact, there's probably not much that I haven't been able to feed into it, although I haven't tried avocado pits or watermelon rinds or corn cobs.

That said, it has still gotten clogged a few times for me. I know, what can I expect when I put in potato peelings, onion skin, lettuce trimmings, carrot peelings, banana peels, and everything else? Probably not the greatest idea ever. ;)

If you're "adventurous" in the kitchen like I am, or just have a garbage disposal that likes to clog, here are my tips for getting it unclogged!

If the clog is in the garbage disposal unit (blade area):

1. Unplug the unit (or turn off the breaker for power to it).

2. Use a flashlight to look down the drain. Sometimes you can see what's in there that shouldn't be.

3. Use a large tweezers -- or do what I do, which is use my hand (but remember the unit is unplugged!!!!) -- and carefully reach inside and pull out whatever shouldn't be in there. I've had baby spoons fall down there, and I've had to pull out mostly-pulverized banana peels. :|

Bonus tip: If your garbage disposal suddenly turns itself off, look on the unit for a little button that says "reset" and press it to turn it back on. Mine shut down one time and I wondered if I had broken it or something until I discovered that button! :)

If the clog is in the drain pipe, the garbage disposal blades will run, but the water won't drain out of your sink:

1. Try not to get it clogged in the first place. Put things down slowly, while running cold water. Putting too much in too quickly will clog it up fast. And really, banana peels don't do very well in the garbage disposal. ;) Don't assume that just because "it went down last time!" you can put whatever you want in the garbage disposal and it'll just go through.

2. If the garbage disposal gets clogged, keep running cold water and turn the disposal off and then back on to see if it will push the clog through. This works for small clogs.

3. A plunger works great for unclogging the garbage disposal. Plug the other side of the sink (if you have a double-basin sink), and the use the plunger on the disposal side. This has saved my sink from several pretty good clogs. If plunging on the clogged side isn't working, you can also try filling the other side of the sink with water and the plunging it through to help loosen things.

4. Drano (or Liquid-Plumr) really does work. Last week, I really, really clogged the garbage disposal. I tried plunging and nothing was moving. I mean NOTHING. Thankfully, the other side of the sink was still moving fine. I wanted to unscrew the pipe and clean it out, but Joshua got nervous when I started talking about messing with the plumbing, and got some Liquid-Plumr Gel at Costco. I was very skeptical. I mean, if my strong arm muscles and the plunger hadn't worked (and I'd tried several times over the course of several days...), I doubted that Liquid-Plumr would work. But, in less than 24 hours, it had completely cleared the clog! Tip: Scoop all of the standing water out of the sink, so the Drano can go in full-strength. (I know homeowners who don't like to use Drano, but for renters like us, it's an easy fix for slow-moving drains or clogs.)

5. If you don't want to use Drano (or don't think it will work), look under the sink and find the spot in the pipes where you believe the clog is located. If you have plastic pipes, you should be able to unscrew them and unclog the area.I found directions for doing this at lowes.com. (Be sure to scoop as much water as possible out of the sink before taking apart pipes, and have a big bucket ready to catch everything below!)

But as I mentioned above, we didn't end up needing to take apart any pipes. Another resource to try is a plumbing snake, which we used one time at our house in Ohio (before I got banned from using the garbage disposal after plugging up the pipes for the 3rd time...). ;)

To help maintain clean drains and pipes naturally:

Remove hair from drains (if you can see it/reach it).

Sprinkle baking soda in drains and then pour in some vinegar.

Flush drains with boiling water.

Doing that usually keeps our bathroom drains running great! :)

Our bath tubs in the last 2 rental places have had the push-down, push-up plugs and I finally figured out how to clean them: Unscrew the plug until it comes off (it takes a lot of unscrewing), and then you can reach the drain to pull out any hair. I have long hair so hair in the shower drains is something I have to keep on top of! :)

Do you have any drain or clog tips to add? I'd love to hear them! (Unfortunately I don't think this is the last time I will ever clog a drain...) :)

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